This blog was about my 28,000 mile, 12 week trip around the USA and Canada seeing 53 shows of Roger Waters performing "The Wall" in 2010. A further 18,600 miles in 2011 seeing 43 shows in Europe. In 2012 i traveled 48,197 miles seeing 9 shows in Buenos Aires & 15 shows in the USA. This week i will start again and travel 13,535 miles seeing shows in Arnhem, Brussels, Padova, Rome, Oslo, Gothenburg, Bucharest, Dublin and Paris and many more!

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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Having two days off between shows made it seem like an age since the last show in Lisbon. Last night was the first of two shows in Madrid, Spain. The venue was a modern building right in the heart of Madrid--a huge silver structure with a cavernous interior that juts out into the high street.

We headed toward the venue around 6:30 P.M, went for dinner at a restaurant across the street, then went into the Venue about 7:30 P.M. The floor was all standing, and Kevin and I wandered over to the left hand side of the stage and reached our way to about two rows from the front. By the time we found our place, it was about 8:30. The shows in Lisbon started at 9 P.M, so naturally we presumed Madrid would be the same. However, it turned out to be 9:30 before the band came onstage.

We didn't want to stand in one place for an hour before the show, so we had a wander around the floor to take in the atmosphere. Marky Lennon spotted me and came over to say hi. It was the first time I'd seen him since the European tour started, and it was good to catch up with him. We had a good chat with Snowy before the show, too, and again, it was good to catch up with him. I hadn’t seen him since last December at the L.A. shows on the US tour.

The crowd started getting a touch restless around 9:20 and started whistling and chanting like they commonly do in Europe! Sure enough, at 9:31 two “guards” holding Pink walked up to the front of the stage, and the “I'm Spartacus” background tape started to roll. "I'm Spartacus," "No I’M Spartacus," rang out through the huge venue to the sound of deafening cheers from the crowd. Pink was thrown onto the stage, and Roger's trumpet playing came on over the PA system.

Roger came on stage as happy as I've ever seen him, running up and down the full length from left to right holding his arms out and taking in the admiration.

The two guards had, by then, made their way onto the stage. One placed the leather trench coat on Roger while the other helped him with the sunglasses from the onstage mannequin. He belted the coat up, pulling the belt tight around his torso and walked over to the mic.

Not sure if this is a new graphic that's on the wall during the start of In The Flesh, but I never noticed it before.

The crowd went wild as the plane came down, and the bricks exploded when it crashed into the wall.

During his speech before Mother, Roger said he performed The Wall thirty-one years ago in 1979 in L.A. Then he said they returned to play Earls Court in 1980. They DIDN'T!! They played L.A. in 1980! Something new I saw tonight was when the words “No Fucking Way” appear on the right side of the wall, the same phrase was written out on the left side, but in Spanish!! I wonder if this will continue in each country according to the language; I bet it does.

While playing Mother, it was obvious to anyone watching the show that something was bothering Roger. He kept looking over to his right in disgust, then pointed to something off stage. It took a minute or so for the roadies to realise that there was a fire door open at the side of the hall, and the light it emitted onstage really bothered him. After some scuffling from the crew, the door was partially closed and the light turned off.

Apart from that, the first half went off without a hitch.

For the second half Kevin and I went to sit in the first block of seats at the right side of the stage--one of my favourite places to sit and watch the second half from. The second half was great, and it was fun to see the enthusiasm of the crowd from our seats.

Crowd During Run Like Hell:

Roger throwing down his shirt and tie:

The wall fall was great tonight, however, at the last three shows, the majority of bricks fell backwards onto the stage. Due to the size of the venues in Europe, there doesn't seem to be any clamps on the top of the wall on the sides. In the USA, this stopped certain parts of it falling down. Now, all the sides seem to fall, giving it a lot more impact.

After the wall fell it took ages for the band to come back on to do Outside The Wall. I could see Jon, Graham, Harry, and G.E. at my side of the stage waiting for Roger to go onstage--there was at least a five minute wait! Jon and Harry were looking at each other and talking to the crew. I think a few of them thought something was amiss, as did I. To the crowd, who knew no different, it was just an excuse to start the famous Spanish Ole, Ole, Ole chant, which sounded fantastic. I know Roger is aware they do this, and I have to wonder if his delay in coming back onstage was, in fact, to encourage the crowd to do this!